A rejection letter from Apple . . . more iPhone app fun

dlincecum — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:45:00 GMT

Actually it was just a simple red dot followed by the word Rejected. The image below is a screenshot from our account on the app store.

It seems that Apple does not allow any use of a charity as an enticement to buy an App. No references to charity website or logos may exist.We can still offer the two versions and we will tell you about the charities on our own website. The charities will not be named on the App store. Either way, they are both great causes to support.

On a secondary note Apple says we must prove that the app works with our product! (The Irony is that is does not actually work with many of our products!! See previous post!) We must submit a video of the App working with the product.

First I am struck by the Apple organization. They are really organized around this App business. Walk in to the Apple store and see App logos everywhere. They are really controlling the content on the phones and the quality of the content. I guess I should say "Kudos to Apple!" But I am somehow left feeling resentful. Like Apple is the front running lemming, leading us all off a cliff!

Ironically this rejection comes on June 4. This morning I noticed this on my Facebook newsfeed. David Neuser (the only person on Facebook still going by Hussein) posted this tribute to the Apple II.

Maybe your asking yourself how the iRFR app developer, Chris Mizerak, took the news?

In his email explaining the situation he pointed out that making a video to prove that the App works only presented the challenge of deciding which finger would be shown setting the levels.

:-)

Life in the fast lane of software . . .

dlincecum — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:06:00 GMT

Subtitle ---- What happens when you throw out all process and just do it

A while back we decided that in order to be a cool company we needed an iPhone app.

It was obvious what the app should do - remotely control our consoles of course. But how would we do it? While many may look at ETC from the outside and say "You guys can get that done. Look at all the people you have. Come on - just knock it out quickly and move on," Experience at ETC has shown that these things are much harder to fit in than they appear. Our company president has a saying; "The farther you are from the actual problem, the easier the solution looks." It is very true.

Anyway - a software developer at ETC emerged who would author this little app in his "spare time." He was and is still a hero in his valiant work at "keeping us cool."

It was decided that we would set this up so all the money gets diverted to lighting charities - so it it goes for the good of all our industry. Another great idea and great cool factor.

Next steps - We began to see prototypes and "kind of working" models and then next thing you know us folks in marketing (the root of all public mistakes!) decide to demo the thing at USITT and then we write about it in a newsletter and then a few salespeople with iPhones begin to show it to others and then a banner ad appears. And then customers want this thing. I mean they really want it. And we don't have it.

Then we start saying things like:

"When is this iPhone app thing done?"

"Well - there have been some delays and complications."

"But, I heard it was almost done. And what about those complications? What are they?"

"Well it does not work on Eos unless you have this software version which is not released."

"Wow, bummer. I guess a lot of people are going to download and then be really confused and ultimately PO'd. What else?"

"Well on Congo these things work now - but these things don't and won't until this summer with V6."

"OK - more confusion. We are accustomed to that. Anything else?"

"A few things: We need some written documentation on how to use this thing. Who is doing that?"

"Have we set up our account with the App store?"

"Has our attorney reviewed the Apple contract?"

"How does the money get to the charities?"

"When is this thing finished again?"

"I heard it was almost done"

Well, in the meantime we are getting hammered to produce this thing. If you browse our forums you see a number of threads - some with very unhappy customers because they don't have this app. (It's amazing how indispensable this little app has become prior to its release) There are some complaints because we delayed the release due to [all above mentioned issues.] Complaints because we are charging $49 for the software (which is a giant sum of money in App store dollars.) The app-confusion even resulted in one group of customers feeling "less than" another one! Wow! This is going well for our cool factor!

Welcome to the new software world created by Apple. We had no idea what we were getting in to. The iPhone has changed many things - how people get software - how people value software - how many people use the software. There are a host of articles out recently about people making millions of dollars in the iPhone software industry that has sprung up. At ETC we are accustomed to slowly building apps and then testing the hell out of them and then taking a long time to release them and then watching them slowly trickle out into the market over months. Welcome to the fast lane, ETC! one thing for sure about iPhone apps - people want it and they want it now.

I'll quote one of our forum users who said it best "This has been a really poorly handled process by ETC." I'll second that motion. We are learning a lot by doing this and we appreciate everyone bearing with us. I knew we were at critical mass when the product managers who work for me started asking things like "Who is product managing this thing?" Answer: "Nobody - and it is showing!"

One thing I have learned - and many of you can learn too. When you are going to develop an iPhone app, DON'T TELL ANYONE UNTIL IT IS REALLY DONE.

David

PS - Latest update ---- I hear that the iRFR is "almost done"

Light Minds Think Alike : irfr

A rejection letter from Apple . . . more iPhone app fun

Life in the fast lane of software . . .